Flash Player Users Also Attacked Outside Browser

Due to the recent security issues with Adobe Flash Player, there are users who have disabled the plugin in their browser or only accessed via click-to-play, but whoever Flash Player on their computer installed can also be attacked outside the browser. That says Trend Micro.

The attackers embed in this case a Flash file into a Word document. Once the user opens the document in the Flash file will attempt to exploit a vulnerability in Flash Player and so to install malware on the computer. This attack method is already some time used and is not new. Recently, Trend Micro, however, attacks seen where the tactic was used again.

It was to contain emails that seemed to come from the Government of Taiwan and a document. The document then uses a vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player, where the Italian Hacking Team had. Doing so would the attack code to be able to attack both 64-bit versions of Windows and Mac OS X. The Japanese anti-virus company advises security-conscious Internet users therefore to remove Adobe Flash Player completely from their system as possible.